A campaign to connect the ‘hard to reach’ members of society to the Internet will be launched by the Office of the e-Envoy next month. Although 62% of adults in the UK have accessed the internet at some time and 52% are regular users, there are 17 million people who have never logged on. ‘Online Nation’ will aim to raise awareness of the benefits of the Internet and break down the barriers that people face when getting online for the first time. Bridging this digital divide between the information ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ is vital to the success of e-Government.A major barrier in connecting people to the Internet is a lack of understanding about how it could be personally relevant. The groups who are least likely to be aware of what the Internet can do for them include elderly people, those in low income households, disabled people and the long-term unemployed.

Chancellor Gordon Brown announced two measures in his Budget speech which could threaten the pay of public servants. He outlined a review to examine the re-location of staff out of the South East and into other regions. He also announced measures to ensure that public service pay is more responsive to the regional labour market.Past Civil Service relocation reviews have led to over 10,000 civil service jobs being transferred out of London. It is now proposed that a further review should be carried out by Michael Lyons, Director of the Institute of Local Government Studies at Birmingham University. He will report his findings in time for the next Spending Review. His remit will include not only the civil service but non-departmental bodies and other public services. Based on the experience of the private sector in re-locating staff, it is estimated more than 20,000 posts could be re-located.

A survey by Compass Research, commissioned by Cafedirect 5065, found that managers need to lighten up and get a better sense of humour. The results of the survey reveal the importance of social interaction and the human side of working life such as communication and humour in the office. When asked which departments need to lighten up nearly a third (27%) said senior managers, nearly a fifth cited their accounts and finance departments (19%), followed by HR and Personnel departments (14%). Office workers appear to be less motivated by job perks, such as childcare and personal trainers, with nearly half not using any of the perks where offered by their organizations. More than half place a higher importance and are more motivated by social places to relax and unwind, like coffee lounges, and social activities, music and humour, at work. Nine out of ten workers say humour lifts their workday and despite half of them receiving email jokes and a tenth receiving jokes on their mobile phones, the best way to share the latest punch-line is through chatting with colleagues.Link: http://www.5065.co.uk